Donate today to keep Global Voices strong!

Our global community of volunteers work hard every day to bring you the world's underreported stories -- but we can't do it without your help. Support our editors, technology, and advocacy campaigns with a donation to Global Voices!

A Twitter user is facing jail time in Chile after a powerful business mogul accused him of identity theft for creating parody accounts on the microblogging site.

Attorney Rodrigo Ferrari Prieto was charged [es] on February 19, 2013 as the man behind the now inactive @losluksic, @andronicoluksic, and @luksicandronicoparody Twitter accounts, which mocked Chilean business tycoon Andrónico Luksic [es] and his familiy [es].

If convicted, Ferrari Prieto could face up to a year and a half in prison.

According to Luksic's lawyer, the Twitter user not only published tweets under his client's persona, but also published personal pictures and made inappropriate comments that damaged his image.

Digital rights activists have said the case is a violation of online freedom of expression. For his part, Ferrari Prieto has said that he is only responsible for the @losluksic account – with an avatar that featured money raining down and a description that read, “we have tons of money” – and that it was part of a joke and therefore should not be considered a crime.

Adding to the controversy, a key element in the investigation that led authorities to the owner of the account's identity was, according to the prosecution, an international request sent to the United States State Department asking them to mediate so that Twitter would deliver the information of the account owner and its IP.

Luksic became a trending topic on Twitter in Chile after news of the formal charges against Ferrari Prieto broke.

“it puts in danger freedom of expression. Today, any type of Internet account that intends to be a satire of a public figure would be consider an identity theft felony. This case is only viable because it's about Andrónico Luksic” [...]

A case like Rodrigo's would have never reached the court in the United States, Twitter would've not handed in the information, because they only give it away with a judicial order. They didn't do it with WikiLeaks [es], so you can see the standard they have [...]

This is not the first time that Andrónico Luksic has intervened in matters of freedom of expression on the Internet and offline. Only a week ago, news broke of the blocking of a YouTube video [es] with an extract of the book “Impunidad Diplomática” (Diplomatic Impunity) by Francisco Martorell – the video is supposedly available now on Vimeo [es] – due to a Chilean court order. The book, published in 1993, talks about scandals that involved the Argentinean ambassador in those days and important Chilean politicians and businessmen, Luksic being among them.

“Diplomatic Impunity” never reached Chilean bookstores – even after the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights considered the fact a violation of the American Convention – also thanks to a legal resource the tycoon presented that was afterwards confirmed by the Supreme Court. The YouTube blocking is also relevant because its the first recorded case of content censorship by Chilean Courts on this social platform.

Luksic Group [es] controls companies from diverse industries such as mining, forest, finance, food and mass media and its fortune is said to be $17.8 billion dollars.